The use of catheters to deliver or withdraw fluids from a patient for various medical procedures is well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,959,623 describes a pain management system that uses various embodiments of infusion catheters to deliver fluid medication from a pump, through tubing, to a wound site. With such systems, catheter connectors are typically used to connect the catheter to various devices, such as tubing, a fluid reservoir or other fluid delivery device, and so forth. In the system of the U.S. '623 patent, a conventional Toughy Borst connector is used to connect the distal end of a medical tube to the proximal end of the catheter.
In addition, it is also a common practice to utilize a “strain relief” device to prevent the catheter from kinking or otherwise collapsing when subjected to lateral bending forces, typically at or near the juncture of the catheter and the connector. These devices are generally designed to prevent bending forces from concentrating at this critical juncture by spreading the bending forces along an adequate length of the catheter tube displaced from the connector. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,379 describes a catheter strain relief device having an elongate body formed of an elastomeric material with a lumen defined therethrough and divided into proximal, central, and distal portions having varying diameters. The catheter tube is slid through the lumen. This device also includes suture wings that provide for suturing the device to a target location on the patient.
A conventional catheter strain relief device is the “Statlock™ Stabilization Device” from Bard Access Systems of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. This device is particularly designed for securement of epidural catheters used for regional anesthesia and includes a retainer mounted on an adhesive anchor pad. The retainer defines a serpentine retention path through which the catheter is threaded, as well as a spot of adhesive over which the catheter runs (and in pressed into) to further secure the catheter.
The medical arts are thus continuously seeking new and improved devices for securing and relieving bending stresses in catheters at a target site, wherein such devices are reliable, relatively easy to use, and provide for quick insertion and release of the catheter. The present invention provides such a device.